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Calvin Rankin (Earth-616)
| CurrentAlias = Mimic | Aliases = Cal | Identity = | Alignment = Neutral | Affiliation = Dark X-Men; formerly X-Men; Brotherhood of Evil Mutants | Relatives = Dr. Ronald Rankin (father, deceased) | Universe = Earth-616 | BaseOfOperations = Mobile; formerly Siberia; Xavier Institute for Higher Learning, Salem Center, Westchester County, New York | CharRef = | Gender = Male | Height = 6'2" | Weight = 225 lbs | Eyes = Brown | Hair = Brown | UnusualFeatures = Calvin gains features based on the mutant powers he is mimicking, such as Angel's wings and Beast's enlarged hands and feet. | Citizenship = American | MaritalStatus = Single | Occupation = | Education = College Graduate | Origin = Mutated Human (Mutate); possibly a mutantIn , Calvin admitted to believing he had some latent powers since birth, due to his father experimenting on himself before Cal's birth. In , Caliban could sense Cal as 'Like a mutant, but not.' | PlaceOfBirth = Passaic, New Jersey | Creators = Stan Lee; Jack Kirby | First = X-Men #19 | HistoryText = Calvin Rankin (also known as Mimic) was a villain-turned-hero-turned-villain who joined the X-Men, and for a short time, was the deputy leader of the team . Mimic's main quest had always been to find a way to make his abilities permanent. On this quest he had battled the X-Men, the Hulk, Super-Adaptoid, Puppet Master and Factor Three, as well as serving Onslaught and briefly joining Excalibur. He retained his powers after M-Day and was held prisoner by the Thunderbolts for his past crimes until being offered a place on Norman Osborn's X-Men. __TOC__ Calvin Rankin was the son of a scientist who was working on various dangerous experiments. As a child, he was not allowed into his father's quarters where the experiments took place. However, at a young age, curiosity got the best of him and he decided to take a look at the experiments that his father was working on. While inside his father's lab, he accidentally knocked down a beaker filled with gas. The experiment his father was working on altered his body. As the months and years passed, more frequently would Calvin be able to mimic the abilities of others while near them. Calvin soon became the best at any sport, mimic'ing abilities of the best players and without anyone knowing. He started to become hotheaded and arrogant as his powers grew, but soon all of his friends and classmates started to dislike and distrust him, referring to him as some kind of robot. Calvin eventually lost all of his friends, but blamed it on their jealousy, noting that he didn't need any of them and was better then all of them. When his father found out what was going on, he knew eventually everyone would turn on Calvin, so he moved them into an abandoned cave in the hopes of curing his son. For months, Calvin's father worked on a machine that would remove Calvin's mimicking powers in the hope of giving him a normal life. However, he never told Calvin what the machine really did, instead telling him it would make his mimic'd powers permanent. Unfortunately, the town's people eventually found out about the machine being built in an abandoned mine, and a mob set out to attack Calvin and his father in their base. To prevent them from reaching the machine, Calvin's father set off an explosion to close the mine before the mob would find their way in. The explosion proved to be too strong and killed Dr. Rankin. Calvin managed to dig himself out of the mine and swore that he would get his revenge on the people who forced this all to happen . Calvin first ran into the X-Men when he was trying to get a date with Vera, who, at the time was dating Hank McCoy. Being the hot-head that he is, he pushed Hank to attack him. Beast was quickly surprised by Calvin's Beast-like defenses. When Bobby tried to help Beast, Calvin retaliated by throwing a snowball he had created in his hand against Bobby's head. Some nearby construction workers saw the battle and quickly assumed that Calvin was a mutant who was attacking two normal teenagers. Calvin quickly used his new-found powers to escape from them with ease. He then realized that he had been fighting two of the X-Men, and became frustrated when the powers he'd picked up began to fade. He decided to find the rest of the X-Men so that he could gain all of their powers forever using his father's buried machine. Some time later, Calvin happened to run into Jean Grey by chance and followed her back to the X-Men's mansion. He returned to the institute the next day, and although Xavier correctly guessed his intentions, the X-Men didn't kick him out, since they had little choice but to confront him sooner or later. Calvin engaged the X-Men in combat and was able to best them all at first, but their teamwork eventually helped them get the better of him in the end. Just as he was apparently losing, Calvin managed to kidnap Jean and escape back to the mine. Hoping the others would come after him, he took the time to tell Jean his origins. As the X-Men arrived, Calvin gained their powers once more and used them together to reach, excavate and activate his father's machine. The X-Men managed to reach and attack him before he could enter the machine, but during the fight Calvin quickly took Xavier hostage. Flying into the machine after it had been activated, it stripped Calvin of his powers, and Professor X managed to short-circuit it so that it would overload. The X-Men dragged Calvin and Xavier to safety just before the whole mine exploded, and Xavier removed Calvin's memories of these events, hoping that Calvin would finally be able to live a normal life. During the following summer, Calvin began attending Metro College, which happened to be the same school Jean Grey had recently been transferred to from the Xavier Institute. They were re-introduced by their common friend Ted Roberts. Calvin claimed that he felt like he had seen her somewhere before, and while Jean tried to deny it, Calvin decided to himself that he won't rest until he remembered where he had seen Jean before . Very soon afterward, Calvin got caught in an explosion on the school grounds, and the blast brought back his memory. When Ted and Jean came to see if he was alright, his old persona and powers resurfaced so he once again became arrogant and egotistical. During this time, Professor Xavier was learning of Factor-Three, and knew the X-Men weren't enough to stop them. He asked Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch as well as Spider-Man to join the X-Men to fight the new Mutant Menace, but all declined. When the X-Men had a meeting at Jean's school where Xavier was going to tell them about this new threat, Calvin interrupted the meeting with the plan to join the X-Men. Despite only joining in hopes of getting the X-Men's powers somehow forever, Xavier let Calvin join as he knew that the X-Men needed all the help they could get to stop Factor-Three. As Cyclops was feeling guilty for accidentally using his powers on Angel, he stepped down as deputy leader of the X-Men and Xavier appointed Calvin to take the position, as he was the most powerful. During their first training mission, the Puppet Master took control over Calvin in hopes of using him as his ultimate soldier. When the X-Men came to rescue Cal, he was forced to fight his new team-mates. When the Puppet Master ordered Mimic to kill the X-Men, Cal used all of his willpower to fight the control of his new master, long enough for the very hurt Angel to enter the battle field and destroy the Puppet Master's hold on Cal. While the X-Men rejoiced in their victory against the Puppet Master, Calvin was struck by sadness, as he was finally coming to terms with the fact that he would never be anything but a man condemned to live in the shadow of other people's abilities, strengths and powers. Still, as deputy leader of the X-Men, he did his best in order to train himself to be ready to fight Factor Three. Even though he had proven himself loyal to Xavier's cause, he did not mingle well with the rest of the team, Cyclops especially, who, as the former leader of the team, didn't like Calvin's recklessness. They soon battled the Ogre and Banshee from Factor-Three, and mimicking Banshee's sonic screams, Mimic was able to defeat both of the new enemies. When the Ogre escaped, it was Mimic who had to fight him and using all of the powers he could mimic at the same time, he was able to defeat the Ogre once again . A couple of days later, Mimic was pushed by Xavier for his biggest exercise yet. Tired and not understanding the point of it, Calvin noted that he didn't transfer to the Xavier Institute just to jump hoops for Xavier and began questioning Xavier's dream and why he should care if any mutants want to take over the world. When Cyclops told Cal to back off, a brawl started with the five original X-Men and Calvin. While hoping that the six of them would work it out, Xavier did put an end to the fight and told Calvin that he can't look past his arrogance and overwhelming ego and told him that it would be best that he left the school. Calvin got the picture that he was indeed not wanted there by anyone, and decided it was time for him to leave . He did return a couple of hours later in hopes of telling off the X-Men, but instead he noticed that the entire team had been beaten by the Super Adaptoid. Just as soon as the Adaptoid was about to destroy the X-Men for not wanting to join him on his quest to rule the world, Calvin entered the fight, claiming that he wanted the power, in hopes of holding of the Adaptoid long enough for the X-Men to regroup. When he felt that his will was fading by the Adaptoid's beam, he attacked with all of his might, using all of the X-Men's powers at once. However, the powerful Super Adaptoid had all the powers of the Avengers, and eventually got the upper hand. However, when the Adaptoid was going to use his beam to change Calvin into a robotic slave, the power rebounded into the Adaptoid because of Calvin's power being borrowed, just like he was hoping for. The Super Adaptoid weakened, his last act in the battle was to throw Calvin down who was now too weak to fly. While the Adaptoid fell into the sea hoping to resurface, the Angel was able to save Calvin from a mighty fall. After the battle, the X-Men thanked Calvin for saving their lives and apologized for their past actions, Calvin told them that there was no need to apologize and, thinking that his powers might once again be gone forever, he stated that it was worth it, for him to learn the true value of the emotion called friendship, and for Calvin Rankin to finally become a man. Unfortunately, Calvin's powers resurfaced again, this time, more powerful then ever. His mimicking powers were in fact, draining people and killing them. As the Beast was trying to find a way to cure him, Calvin was rendered comatose in a battle with the Hulk . Many believed him to have perished due to the radiation he absorbed from the Hulk, but years later Calvin recovered by duplicating the healing factor of Wolverine. Unfortunately, he duplicated the looks, claws and even Adamantium of Wolverine as well. With his powers seeming to be permanent, and the pain of having claws being unbearable, Calvin crossed the country breaking into pharmacies to try to calm his rage. Eventually he ran into the Hulk again (now in his Mr. Fixit form), and explained why he looked exactly like Wolverine. The real Wolverine showed up towards the end of Cal's story, claiming that he wanted to help Calvin because he felt partially responsible for his pain. He didn't get much of a chance, since Banner had a little bit too much to drink and turned into the green Hulk rather than the gray and went on a rampage. Calvin and Logan managed to jump onto Hulk as he was jumping away, and found themselves back at the cave where Calvin's father had died. Apparently the machinery continued to work long after it's initial overload, and used it's last remaining power to bring all three of them there and explain that it had been putting out a pulse that kept Calvin's powers at bay. Then, with the last of it's power used up, it was destroyed. Rather than rebuild the machine, Logan taught Calvin some Asian Zen meditation techniques that would continue to help him suppress his powers - . Mimic relocated to a small research station in Siberia where friends of his late father tried to analyze and stop his mimicking powers. Later, X-Force responded to a distress call at the station and found Calvin, where his powers had brought him to the brink of insanity, bringing back all of the original X-Men's powers, and giving him those of the visiting X-Force. He blamed X-Force for the deaths of other researchers, and mysteriously disappeared after causing an explosion while mimic'ing Sunspot's powers - . Mimic would continue to try to find ways to stop his powers from killing everyone near him, and salvation would come from the most unlikely foe; Onslaught. After helping him stabilizing his powers and helping him reform his mind, Mimic became one of the few servants of Onslaught. Members of X-Force later encountered Mimic again, along with his comrade Blob, who had also joined Onslaught's ranks , , & . Mimic was later captured by Operation: Zero Tolerance. He retained Professor X's telepathic signature, which was detected by Excalibur. They traveled to his location hoping to find Xavier, but found and free Rankin instead. He briefly joined Excalibur, and even attended Captain Britain's wedding - . While he was a member of Excalibur, he became good friends with Dr. Moira MacTaggert who was interested in his behavior. In her study, they made the discovery that a lot of Calvin's anger issues where from a bi-polar disorder he didn't know about. He eventually left the team, on good terms. With Professor Xavier still in jail for his crimes as Onslaught, Mimic joined Mystique's Brotherhood of Mutants to assist them in freeing the real Xavier - , . He stayed on the team for awhile, aiding the team in their fight for Mutant rights - . Alongside his teammates, Mimic lost his templated powers temporarily due to the High Evolutionary's use of a device that halted the use of all mutant powers. When that device was halted and mutants regained their powers, Mimic did as well. This version of the Brotherhood later disbanded and the group went their separate ways . Calvin Rankin continued his vigilantism after his powers returned and lived a carefree life until Baron Zemo and Songbird captured him alongside his old comrade The Blob and made them prisoners in the Folding Castle's Detention Quadrant. After this incarnation of the Thunderbolts was disbanded, Calvin was freed alongside other prisoners to continue his vigilante work despite the Civil War and the law of powered beings being asked to register . During one of his adventures, Calvin caused a great explosion that destroyed a lot of property as well as hurting and maybe killing some civilians. Instead of facing time in prison, he was offered a job by Norman Osborn, the new head of H.A.M.M.E.R. as a member of his own personal X-Men. Rankin doubted this at first but eventually agreed. After joining Osborn's X-Men, he got a new costume as well as had his long hair and beard shaven off in order to look good for the public image. Being seen on various Television screens and being praised by the public aided Rankin in his belief that he was finally becoming the hero that he was always meant to be but that didn't make it any easier to work with his other teammates. While trying to interrogate a former human who had been transferred to a nano-sentinel by Simon Trask, the creature was smashed by Weapon Omega who yelled at Calvin telling him that this was their own personal hell , - . Though most of his teammates were unstable, a lot of them were able to get along with Mimic who did not see things as clear as his enemies and was sure that he was doing the right thing. After a week of protecting San Francisco from various dangers, Osborn's team of X-Men were attacked by the actual members of the X-Men. When members Dark Beast and Weapon Omega were down for the count, Emma Frost revealed to everyone that she was a traitor by knocking out Daken. When Mimic began to question what was going on, obviously confused over everything that was happening, he too was knocked out by Namor, who also betrayed Osborn. While he was unconscious, two of his other teammates, Cloak and Dagger, joined the X-Men. It was speculated that Namor felt that the Mimic was too far gone into Osborn's lies to be able to be convinced on the short time they had and was too powerful to fight against while Cloak and Dagger were already unhappy with their decision of joining the team . When the X-Men left for Asteroid M, now known as Utopia, Mimic joined the rest of Osborn's group to take them down. Mimic was outmatched by the share amount of mutants and was beaten down by a group of them. Osborn later retreated with his team after it became clear that he could not win without murdering them in cold blood on live television. However, Osborn and America took this as a victory as the 'mutant terrorists' had left US Soil. Osborn re-presented his X-Men team that were going to stay on and Mimic was still a member, smiling to the public and working for the government to take down any possible threats . Under the power of Norman Osborn, and the leadership of Mystique once again, Mimic continued being a member of the "X-Men", but his depression was becoming a problem. During one of their missions, the team was sent to a small town in California and eventually found X-Man who was trapped in various different consciousness. During their conflict, Mimic copied his abilities by accident, and was able to see a vision of his own future where he killed his wife, Vera and their newborn child with his optic blasts. His teammate, Omega also got overpowered by X-Man's telekinetic energy and Mimic had to take him down. Despite the damage done to the town, Osborn's people were able to make it look more like a victory and the town had statues of both Rankin and Omega. But these events turned the depressive Calvin into even more of an unstable mess, and even though X-Man attempted to show him how to use his new precognitive ability, Cal was still unable to tame his demons. During X-Man's attack on Osborn and his Avengers, Rankin found himself unable to move, as he was given his recent life choices some serious thought, mumbling the words "I was an X-Man once..." to himself. In the end, Cal's ability was used by Osborn to duplicate Omega's, and together, they drained X-Man until he could be taken into custody. They immediately regretted their cooperation, since X-Man could have given them exactly what they were looking for - . Mimic's whereabouts and activities after the results of the siege of Asgard remain unknown. | Powers = *'Mimicry': Mimic was able to alter his body down to his DNA in order to duplicate the abilities of those around him within an unspecified distance. These abilities were supposedly further enhanced by Onslaught before Rankin and Blob encountered X-Force. Over time, he permanently gained the ability to use the powers of the original X-Men and Charles Xavier: * Angel's wings * Beast's physiology including enhanced strength and agility * Cyclops' optic blasts * Iceman's cryokinesis * Phoenix's telekinesis * Professor X's telepathy When interacting with normal humans, Mimic was able to duplicate their skills, personality traits, and intelligence. Thus, when in the vicinity of athletes, he gained superior athletic ability, and when in the presence of a scholar, not only did his knowledge expand, but so did his potential to learn. | Abilities = Calvin is a self-taught biochemist. | Strength = Superhuman, able to lift at least 1 ton. | Weaknesses = | Equipment = Ruby-Quartz lenses. | Transportation = Usually wings, under his own power. | Weapons = | Notes = * At one time, Mimic duplicated the powers of: :* Beast :* Iceman :* Jean Grey :* Professor X :* Cyclops :* Banshee :* The Hulk (attempted) :* Wolverine :* Cable :* Warpath :* Sunspot :* Nightcrawler :* Shadowcat :* Colossus :* Omega :* X-Man * This version of Mimic is not to be confused with the slightly more popular Exiles' version of him. | Trivia = * Skrull-X also had the powers of the original X-Men, making him similar to the Mimic. * The original Mimic as created by Stan Lee and Werner Roth was not a mutant, but received his powers after breathing gas in his father's laboratory. Later, X-Men writer Scott Lobdell claimed it merely awakened Mimic's latent mutant powers, but this point was never made in the comics themselves and remains a point of discussion. | Marvel = Mimic_(Calvin_Rankin) | Wikipedia = Mimic_(comics) | Links = * Comicvine.com }} Category:X-Men members Category:Brotherhood members Category:Flight Category:Power Mimicry Category:Telepaths Category:Concussive Blasts Category:Cryokinesis Category:Telekinesis Category:Dark X-Men members Category:Optic Blasts